K'taka CMP to wait for Budget '04

TNNJul 5, 2004, 12.38am IST

BANGALORE: Even as the first joint meeting of Congress-JD(S) parties decided to await the budget to finalise their coalition regime's common minimum programme on July 10, Congress' poll promise of a monthly dole of Rs 500 to Karnataka's unemployed youth is unlikely to be implemented.

Senior leaders and ministers of both coalition parties, who discussed the pros and cons of implementing the poll promises of the two parties before incorporating them in the CMP, are understood to have decided to drop the idea of a stipend to unemployed youth promised by the Congress in view of the huge cost of Rs 2,000 crore a year.

However, the meeting is understood to have "in principle'' agreed to accept the JD(S) promise on waiver of interest and penal interest on all farm loans as an one-time gesture to instill confidence in farmers reeling under three consecutive drought years and also to write off the principal amount if the payment of interest and penal interest was more than the farm loans.

With the UPA adopting pro-farm measures, the coalition preferred to await budget prescriptions on July 8 before spelling out its stand.